In regard to the sex of the immigrants, the males have always had the predominance. During the period from 1820 to 1910, 63.8 per cent of the immigrants were males, and 36.2 per cent females.[152] This is what might naturally be expected. The first emigration from a region is almost always an emigration of men. They have the necessary hardihood and daring to a greater extent than women, and are better fitted by nature for the work of pioneering. After the current of emigration becomes well established, women are found joining in. Early emigrants send for their families, young men send for their sweethearts, and even some single women venture to go to a country where there are friends and relatives. But in the majority of cases the number of males continues to exceed that of females. In the long run, there will be a greater proportion of men than of women, because of the natural differences of the sexes. In this respect, however, there has also been a change in recent years. The proportion of males is considerably larger among the new immigrants than among the old. In the decade 1820–1830, when immigration was still in its beginning, there was a large proportion of males, amounting to 70 per cent of the total. In the decades of the forties and fifties, however, the proportion of males fell to 59.5 per cent and 58 per cent, respectively. But in the decade ending 1910, 69.8 per cent of all the immigrants were males. There is a general tendency for the proportion of males to rise in a year of large immigration, and fall as immigration diminishes. This can be traced with a remarkable degree of regularity throughout the modern period. It is well exemplified in the last six years. In the year 1907, when the total immigration reached its highest record, the proportion of males also reached the highest point since 1830, 72.4 per cent. After the crisis of that year the total immigration fell off decidedly, and in 1908 the proportion of males was only 64.8 per cent. In the next year the percentage of males rose to 69.2, while the total immigration decreased slightly; but since the net gain by immigration increased in that year,[153] this is not a serious exception to the rule. In 1910 the total immigration again showed a marked increase, and the percentage of males rose to 70.7.[154] In 1911 there was another marked decline in immigration and the percentage of males fell to 64.9, while a further slight decline in 1912 was accompanied by a fall in the percentage of males to 63.2.[155] This phenomenon is undoubtedly accounted for by the fact that the men come in more direct response to the economic demands of this country than the women, and hence respond to economic fluctuations more readily. Many of the female immigrants come to join men who have established themselves on a footing of fair prosperity in this country, and are able to have them come even in a year of hard times.